So, after eight days of no new content, did any of you suspect the worst when you hit the site yesterday and got an error?

Apparently, a comment spammer DOS‘ed us which killed Movable Type and caused my host to disable the site. I swear, I’d forego my vegetarianism for a meal if I could eat a meal of deep fried comment spammers. They’re a scourge and have done the same thing to two other sites of mine in the past. It’s a waste of my time and resources.

Anyway, the site’s back and I’ll have some new content for you soon. I’m trying to get on a more normal writing schedule. Thanks for bearing with me.

I’m not sure, but I think the animals in my neighborhood have been conspiring on Dogster to escape their homes.

It started about two weeks ago when I saw a nearby dog named Bandit wandering around. Fortunately, he let me come right up to him and put a leash on him. He was also wearing a tag, which made it easy to get in touch with his caretaker, who didn’t even realize he had escaped. (Here’s a shot of us hanging out before we could get in touch.) “Bandit never does this,” he told me. “If he gets out of the backyard, he usually just sits on the front step.”

A week later, Bandit escaped again. This time my sister saw him and returned him home (no one was even home at his house at the time).

Last night, I was walking Amina and an tiny, older mutt was loose. I found out where he lived even though he only had a non-identifying rabies tag on. The woman there had no idea he had even gotten out. “He’s never done this before,” she told me. I nodded and suggested she consider getting him an ID tag, just in case.

This morning, for the first time in the 16 months she’s lived with us, Amina forced her way past me and bolted out the front door. I freaked out and yelled to her, which only made her keep running. So I took a deep breath and slowly followed. She had already gotten halfway down the block and visions of her getting hit by a car or running where I couldn’t find her had already entered my head. I kneeled down and called to her and offered her a treat (which I didn’t really have) and she came back, thankfully. But it’s really weird, because it’s totally against her normal personality to do something like that.

So, dogs, if any of you are reading this (including you, miss Amina!), cut it out. Stop running away.